Typically cell chains useful in the application of the present invention may be of the type disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,763,443. These cell chains comprise a plurality of adjacent in line cells each adapted to receive a seed or seedling with a propagating medium, the cell chain consisting of rigid lengths of a number of such cells hinged together in a manner enabling the chain to be fed as desired in a single line of cells or to be stored with the rigid lengths arranged side by side nesting into one another to minimise the storage area required.
As will be readily recognised, seedlings or plants can only be grown in one sized container or pot for a certain period of time and thereafter they must be potted up or transferred to larger containers or pots. There are a number of difficulties in achieving this in an automatic or mechanised manner without labour intensive work. These problems include the ability to handle and control the movement of the plants or seedlings to be transferred. Common difficulties that occur are due to the fact that seedlings themselves differ in appearance, some have long stalks and high foliage and others have low foliage with virtually no stalks. Further, with some plants the root structure tends to flow between adjacent containers making it difficult to remove one plant at a time to be transferred. Other difficulties include the ability to control movement of the containers into which the plants or seedlings are to be transferred, the preparation of the growing medium in the new containers to receive the plants or seedlings, the ability to recognise where seedlings might not have propagated or perhaps have propagated incorrectly such that they wold not survive or would not produce useful or saleable plants, and the ability to automatically transfer the plants or seedlings in a manner such that there are no gaps left in the new containers bearing in mind not all the original containers will have appropriate plants for further propagation.
The objective of the present invention is to provide improved apparatus in a plant or seedling transplanting mechanism which will overcome or mimimise at least some of the aforementioned difficulties. A preferred objective is to provide a plant or seedling transplanting mechanism capable of efficiently transplanting seedlings from a cell chain into a second array of containers.